Bottle carrier



Aug. zo; 1957 H, DALTQN- Y 2,803,487

' BOTTLE CARRIER Filed Dec. 23, 1954A United States Patent BTTLE CARRIER Lloyd H. Dalton, Ottawa, Kans.

Application December 23, 1954, Serial No. 477,228

6 Claims. (Cl. 294--87.28)

This Vinvention relates to an article carrier that is inexpensive, easy to manufacture, lightweight, and adapted to releasably receive a number of articles and permit carrying the same without necessity of housing the same within la receptacle therefor as is the conventional practice.

It is the most important object of the present invention to provide a carrier for bottles, cans and the like adapted to be made entirely from wire stock, bent and formedto present a plurality of loops thereby forming notches for reception of the articles, together with means in the nature of a swingable retainer formaintaining the articles in their notches.

A further object of this invention is to provide a carrier that has a U-shaped wire member swingable on the primary body within which the notches are formed for movement to and from a position bridging the open faces of the notches to thereby releasably hold the articles within the said notches as the articles are carried through use of a pair of bails similarly mounted for swinging movement on the body.

Other objects include the way in which the carrier is adapted to be formedv with either inwardly or outwardly facing notches Iand the manner of facing the loops, as well as the retainer member with frictionable or compressible materials to assure retention of the articles until it is desired that the same be released.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plan View of a carrier made pursuant to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line III-III of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a modified form of the invention; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary, top plan view of another embodiment of the instant invention.

The carrier shown in Figs. l to 3, inclusive, is preferably made entirely from wire and includes a body broadly designated by the numeral that consists of a continuous length of such wire bent and formed to present a pair of ends 12 and 14, a pair of sides 16 and 18, and a plurality of loops within the side 16, together with a number of loops 22 within the side 13.

Loops 20 and 22 face outwardly in opposite directions and are adapted to receive necks 24 of bottles 26, it being understood that such articles 26 are conventionally provided with enlarged beads 28 above the necks 24. Accordingly, the widths or diameters of the loops 20 and 22 are substantially the same as the diameters 0f the necks 24 at their narrowest points whereby the beads 28 overlie and rest upon the said loops 20 and 22 when the articles 26 are within the outwardly facing notches presented thereby.

The .articles 26 are releasably retained within their notches 20 and 22 through the medium of a U-shaped member 30 having a pair of legs 32 and 34 and a bight 36. When the member 30 is in the position shown in Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing, the legs 32 and 34 thereof bridge the open ends of the loops 20 and 22 respectively,

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thereby embracing the two opposed rows of articles 26. However, the member 30 may be swung `from such nomial operative position by virtue of the fact vthat the legs 32and 34 are provided with eyes 38 and 40 respectively that Lencircle the end 12 of body 10 for free swinging-movement thereon. I Y Y The carrier is additionally provided with a pair Aof U-shaped bails 42 and 44 having bights 46 and 48 respectively, adapted to be swung into juxtaposed relationship as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, presenting hand .gripsI to permit carrying of the retained articles 26 in suspended relationship to the body 10 and therefore, to the bails 42 and 44. The said bails 42- 44 are swingably mounted upon the sides 16 and 18 respectively of the body 10 through the medium of eyelets 50.

When it is desired to release the articles 26 from the carrier, the operator need merely swing the bails 42 and 44 :apart sufficiently to permit swinging movement of the retainer member 30 upwardly away from the loops 2t) and 22, whereupon all of the articles 26 will easily slip from place within the said open end notches. The tightness of t may be varied to suit the desires of the manufacturer, but` inasmuch as the member 30 is made from resilientmaterial, the legs 32 and 34 will spread apart toa lmitedextent and may, therefore-be forced to and from the operative position in embracing relationship to the two rows of articles 26. y

Essentially, the same principle is provided in the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 4 except for the fact that body has the loops 120 and 122 thereof facing or opening inwardly. The same type of U-shaped retainer is provided to releasably maintain articles 126 within the loops 120 and 122, but the member 130 spans the distance between the two rows of articles 126 instead of being disposed in embracing relationship thereto as above described with respect to the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive. Through such construction it is possible to utilize legs 132 and 134 of member 130 as a means of mounting an advertising panel 152. Such panel 152 may consist of lightweight sheet metal if desired, looped at the longitudinal edges thereof around the legs 132 and 134. The panel 152 serves therefore, the additional purpose of preventing undue springing of the legs 132 and 134 toward each other, avoiding accidental displacement of the articles 26 from the loops 120 and 122 when the entire unit is carried through the medium of bails 142 land 144.

The carrier chosen for illustration of the principles of Fig. 5 of the drawing is identical with the carrier shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive. In the improvements depicted by Fig. 5, the carrier is adapted to receive articles 226 such as cans, which do not have pronounced necks of reduced diameters nor enlarged annular beads as at 28 in the case of articles 26. It is recognized however, that most cans do have annular beads at the ends thereof, but when the carrier is made las shown in Fig. 5, articles 226 may be retained in place whether or not the same are provided with such beads. To accomplish this purpose, loops 220 and 222 are provided with means for gripping the articles 226 taking the form of coverings 254, 256, 258 and 260 respectively. Such coverings may consist of any suitable material that is preferably frictionable and advantageously resilient or compressible.

Rubber, cork, rubberized fabrics or any one of the many synthetic plastics may be utilized for such purpose and the same may either be tubular in nature for threading in place, or be coated thereon `after the carrier is otherwise formed and assembled.

It is seen, therefore, that as the legs 232 and 234 are swung in place to a position bridging the open sides of the notches or loops 220 and 222, the articles 236 will be effectively gripped and frictionally held against displacement bythe inherent nature of the material from which the said coatings or article gripping means are formed.

These and many other changes and modiiications may be made to the basic principles of the instant invention without varying from the spirit thereof and it is therefore, desired to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by `Letters Patent is:

1. An article carrier formed throughout of wire rod material and Ycomprising an elongated, frame-like body having side elements and end elements interconnecting the side elements to render the body'substantially rigid, each side element having a longitudinal row of spaced loops therein presenting article-receiving notches open at one extremity thereof for reception of articles therein; a U- shaped member atop the body having a bight extending transversely of the body `adjacent one end of the latter and a pair of spaced, elongated legs extending longitudinally of the bodyand swingably-attached at'the ends thereof remote from the bight to that end element at the other end of the body, said member being swingable about said last-mentioned end element to and from a position bridging said open extremities of the notches for engaging the articles and retaining same in the notches, the notches of one side element being bridged by one leg and the notches of the other element being bridged by the other leg; and a bail swingably attached to the body for swinging movement between a position where the body is suspended for carrying therebelow and a position clearing a space above 4 v the body for swinging movement of the member to and from its said article-engaging position.

2. In a carrier as set forth in claim 1, wherein are provided frictional coverings on the article-engaging portions of the loops and the legs.

3. In a carrier as set forth in claim 1, wherein there is an opposing loop in one side element for each loop in the other side element, all loops of each side element respectively having their open extremities facing in the same direction and their closed extremities .aligned longitudinally of the body and said legs being substantially straight.

4. In a carrier as set forth in claim 3, wherein the open extremities of all notches face inwardly of the body. Y

5. In a carrier as set forth in claim 3, wherein the open extremities of all notches face outwardly of the body.

6. In a carrier as set forth in claim 5 wherein those notches proximate said one end of the body are spaced from the latter for clearance of articles within the notches by the bight as the member is swung to and from said position.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,301,179 Hutoi Nov. l0, 1942 2,415,218 Rhodes et al Feb. 4, 1947 2,420,069 Egly May 6, 1947 2,461,317 Dreher Feb. 8, 1949 2,609,227 Medill etal. Sept. 2, 1952 

